The Irish standard., 1887-09-24
OUR GREAT CONSTITUTION.
1t Is Not Surpassed in the Annals o.
Secular Human Efort---Tlle Men
Who Created the Nation.

/ Who Created the Nation.
HONOR TO WHOM 1T is DUE
Patrick Henry's Share i'll the Great Task
in Interesting Debate by Collegians---
| The Merits Of the Document.
| Gladstone has said-and it is open tc
doubt if there is a q better judge i'll the
wcrId-that the constitution Of Che
United States Of America is, uuexcep'
tionally, the most mastery Of human
productions, that it was the grandest
enanation from the minds of men who
would appear to have been specially
created for the glorious work of nation
building, One hundred Years ago a
group of patriots, weary. but not ez.-
hausted, by the trials OF q war which
Charles James Fox called "accursed,
cruel and diabolical,' assembled in t
city Of William Penn and undertook
the noblest. the most tremendous secu
lar work that ever was undertaken,
They boldly undertook to convert these
colonies las they then were) into free
and sovereign and united common
wealthy. It is not unwarrantable 20
assume that at least few of those sag
acious men fores saw-certainly Ben.
jamiu Franklin, the most talented Of
them all, did foresee-that they we're
planting the seed from which would
grow and thrive and Irnctify the self
governing country Of sixty five millions
Of free men. Words cannot tell. nor
has the imagination Of men conceived
All adequate conception Of the magni-
tude and abiding excellence OF the work
that WAS done by the patriots who met
in Independence Hall on the 18th, 18th
and 18th days of Sept, 17s7. Now, in
connection with CHS centennial celebIa-
tion, it should be distinctly noted that
among the architects Of the great re
public, among the leaders who pledged
their lives. f,rtuh es and lnYi0laDle hon
OF to defend and MAINTAIN the infant re-
public, were many men Of purely Irish
lineage, the most distinguished of then
all baing harles Carroll. 20 whom was
due the revolt, and the revolu ion. SD
g!oriousIy successful? In the year 1876
the great Centennial year-the Piilo-
demjc Society uf Georgetown College
held debate on this QUESTION Was
the uation more indebted to George
sashington or To Patrick Henry? and
the question, after keen and clever
discussion, was disposed Of III favor OF
Mr. Henry. Without the slightest dis
Daragernen5 of General Washington, it
was admitted by the aforesaid society
not more thau twenty per cent, Of them
being OF Irish birth or parrntage, many
of them being South th-Americans--tha
Patrick Henry had done more to shake
off the yoke OF British tyranny, to III ike
the thirteen American colonies feel
strong enough to face Lord North and
say, 'Stop! you have gone to far. We
are not going to stand this nonesense
any longer" than any other person bad
done. The young men were right in
their vote on the debate. It was Pat
rick Henry. in the Virginian House of
Burgesses, and it was not Samuel
Adams-with all proper reverence for
his immortal memory who kindled the
torch Of revolution, and hurled it in the
faceof the lanoyerian king of England.
The men Of Massachusetts played d
most honorable part in the grand rebel
lion, but the start was made in Vir
ginia, and it was Henry who made it.
Rome was not built in a day, and the
constitution was not the work of an
hour. The wonder is that it was done
so we'll in any length of time. Sapol-
con has been praised-as many think
with senseless extravagaDce-for the
code of laws which bear his name, and
which is no more than arehash Of JUS
tinian and the 'sdroit civile'' that had
previously prevailed. His achieve
ments are aghastly mockery in coInpar-
ison with the American constitution.
It has survived the changes Of public
opinion and the ALTERATIONS Of private
judgment it has withstood and rode
triumphant over the sangnlnary
events of the bloodiest and most savage
civil war that is recorded in history
it has been lauded and ad1niringly cited
by the master spirits Of this pre-emi-
neptly practical nineteenth century.
De Tocqueville, fresh from country OF
legislators or legion-fresh from the
country of Sleyes--expressed, in the
midst Of incisiye, yet. withai no. un-
friendly criticisms, his establishment at
its completeness" And it's precisely
that same quality Of the constitution
which elected the encomiums OF Glad
stone, one of the severest Of critics in
matters both literary and political. 1t
has been a favorite and sonorous max
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